Glenn-UK

My main objective today was to fair the hull. This was a fairly painless exercise and did not take too long to complete approx. 90 minutes in total. I started by using my Amati sanding block (loaded with 120-grit sandpaper) on the bulkhead ears. Once I was happy with how they were looking I moved to fairing the mid ship ship sections, using a mixture of my Amati sanding block and Infini sanding sticks (100-grit, 150 grit and 220 grit). Next I moved on to fairing the stern area. For this I used my Infini sanding sticks (100-grit, 150 grit and 220 grit), my thin standing sticks and 120 grit sandpaper. This took a bit more time and effort and once completed I was happy that there was full contact with a test plank. It was then time to fair the bow area. Once again I used my Infini sanding sticks (100-grit, 150 grit and 220 grit), my thin standing sticks and 120 grit sandpaper. Once completed I was happy that there was full contact with a test plank. I did smooth the sanded hull using a 400 grit sanding stick. Next I did a quick test fit the prow, keel and stern post and was very happy with how they looked. If I get time later today I will glue them in place as it is now time for my daily afternoon run.

Thanks for the explanation Maurice.

What do you mean by the term Syn? It is akin to a clinker effect?

Today has been a very productive day in the shipyard. The hinges, ordered from Syren in the USA, arrived today so I was able to add them to the inner panels. The door handles and hinges from Syren do add an extra dimension to the model. The inner panels were then secured to the hull, quickly followed by the deck beams and carlings, as can be seen in the photo below. I much prefer using @Chuck hinges and handles compared to photo etched equivalents. They look great, they do not require blackening and they are very easy to fit. The next photo shows one of the inner door panels complete with hinges and handles. I did follow @Blue Ensign build and removed the right-angle part from the upper hinges. The following selection of photos shows some different aspect of the deck beams, carlings, deck fittings and panels. You will note that I test fitted the various dowels to ensure there is no alignment issues. The next task was to slot the upper deck base pattern into place. On my first fitting there seemed to be a very slight issue with fitting bow area. With the deck fully engaged in the bulkhead notches the bow area was not sitting flat across the bow deck beams. After removing the laser char from the edges of the upper deck pattern bulkhead slots it was a perfect fit, as can be seen the final set of photos.

Many thanks Mark, much appreciated

Thanks Bob. It is very time consuming to get the Carronades to look presentable, but the end justifies the means. I am slowly learning that taking ones time does yield much better results.

The wheels for the carriage bases are supplied on a very handy base which makes painting them much easier. I did touch up the wheel base shown in the photo below as I missed a bit. The wheels were then added to the 16 off carriage bases, as shown below. The black top of the wheel base can be seen on the upper surface of the carriage base. It does not look very appealing so some work is required to make it more presentable. The excess wheel base material was then sanded away, using a flat needle file. Next I applied a coat of diluted wood filler to the wheel base top area. Once that had dried it was sanded smooth, using a 400 grit sanding stick, and then painted red. And as if by magic the wheel base top is no longer visible. The final task was to add the PE parts and carronade cannon to the slide base. I found it easier to add the rings to the ring strap before the straps were glued in place. I found adding the ring straps to be a very fiddly task but by taking my time I am reasonably happy with how the rings straps look. In the photos below the slider has been added to the carriage base but they are not glued in place, which I will do when positioning the carronades on the deck.

32-Pounder Carronade Eye Ring Strap Considerations I have been pondering how to fit the eye ring strap for the 32-Pounder carronades. When doing a little bit of research it would appear that these straps can be angled either forward facing or rear facing. I thought it might of some interest to some readers of my build log to follow my thought process in this and the conclusions I have reached to see how they should be positioned on the Harpy. Some Rear Facing Examples Referring to the prototype build log and the 68 pounders on HMS Victory these straps are angled to be rear facing, as can be seen in the two photos below. Forward Facing Examples Both the HMS Trincomalee carronades and the ship fittings offered on Vanguard Models web site are angled to be forward facing, as shown in the next two photos. Conclusion The ring strap on the HMS Victory carronade is positioned aft of the tackle eyebolt so it makes sense to angle the ring strap rear facing. The ring strap on the HMS Trincomalee carronade is positioned forward of the tackle eyebolt so it makes sense to angle the ring strap forward facing. On the Harpy carronades the ring strap is positioned aft of the slide bed tackle eyebolt therefore, as per prototype build, I believe it needs to be fitted as rear facing. I will position the slide bed tackle eyebolts so they are in line with the slide bed (as per both Victory and Trincomalee examples) rather than being at 90 degrees as shown on the prototype.

Bob Though all you trial and tribulations you have built a fabulous model. Well done 👏 and many thanks for the mention.😀 Glenn (UK)

Sure is

Hello Mark I found a nice routine of doing multiple identical tasks. I am being more critical of my work and I can see the improvements. Fingers crossed I can improve my planking.

Today I have continued working on the 2 off 6 pounder cannons and the 16 off 32 pounder carronades. The first task today was to glue the right-hand carriage sides to the front axle. In the photo below you will note that the holes for the eyebolts have been opened up. With thanks to @Blue Ensign I have noted that these eyebolts are actually metal loops which set in the carriage sides. In the next photo I have competed the basic cannon carriage assembly. As can be seen in the next two photos the Amati eyebolts have been set in the carriage sides and I have added 2mm rings to the leading loops for the breach rope. To complete the work the wheels have been added, noting I have added a touch of black paint to the end of the wheel axles. I have not added the quoin's as I need to set the cannons on the deck, once fitted, so I can set the cannons to the right level of elevation. Moving in to the carronades the basic assembly of the carriages and slide beds has been completed, as shown in the next photo. Once the laser char had been removed the carriages and slide beds were painted flat red. As can be seen in the photo below I have very happy with this carriage. After a closer inspection of all the carriages there is a little bit of sanding work required to get a neat finish on some of them. When looking at the slide beds I am very happy with the majority of them, but there are one or two which will require a bit of filling and sanding. In the final photo I am making sure the slide beds locate in the carriages, noting I have not sorted out the tops of slide beds.

Nicely done.

Whilst waiting for the door hinges and handles parts I have ordered to arrive I decided to build the two small boats. After painting the both hulls white (internal and external) I added a black wale and a red top band. I also added a small red band on the inner top edge of the smaller cutter. The hull painting is not perfect but passes muster for me. Next I applied an oak wood stain to all the wooden parts. I liked the natural wood effect for the smaller boat inner fittings. I thought the larger cutter would look better with a coloured internal paint scheme. I opted for flat red for the internal ribs and matt black for all the other wooden internal parts. Both rudders were painted white. With regards to the both sets of ships oars I kept the oak stain for the shafts and white paint for the scull oar ends. The package from the USA arrived and I was pleased that I could continue on with the main ship build. Unfortunately I did not check what I was ordering. I mistakenly thought the hinges and handles were included in the parts I was ordering, In actual fact I had only ordered the handles. Thankfully Chuck was able to help me out and the hinges are now being shipped over to the UK for me. I did fit the handles to the panels and I really like the effect. Now that I have more time to kill whilst I wait for the hinges to arrive I decided to move on to building the cannons and carronades. After removing the wooden parts I applied a coat of wood sealer Concentrating on the two cannons the various wooden parts were painted red. Tape was then applied to the four carriage sides and the cannon caps were painted black. The cannon wooden parts are now ready for the assembly phase.

Nice work on the stove tiled base.

We aim to please 🙏

The first photo in this post shows the stove base assembly which I have made. The printed floor tile pattern has been glued to a 1mm thick base plate, which had been painted black. The printed tile pattern was smaller than the base plate so there is a nice black surround. I decided to paint the internal lower deck panels a light grey colour. Before applying a couple coats of paint the patterns were sealed. I am still waiting for the delivery of door hinges & handles from Syren which I will add to these panels before they are fixed in place on the harpy lower deck. I opted to use some Amati eyebolts and rings for the hatch covers, as shown below. After I added the rings to 56 eyebolts they were chemically blackened and inserted to the lower deck. The next photo shows the stove assembly dry fitted to the deck with the upper deck beams also dry fitted. The next two photos shows the sail room assembly dry fitted to the deck along with the dry fitted deck beams. I will probably use some diluted wood filler to fill in the gaps between the frame and outer patterns. The final two photos shows the lower deck arrangement, with deck beams, gratings, stove and sail room dry fitted. The two long inner bulwark patterns have been glued. I did use deck beams 2 and 10 to ensure these panels were correctly positioned. Once I was happy with the positioning the deck beams were removed and plenty of clamps were then added.

Following on my last post I have now removed the laser char from the all the deck beams and additional filler pieces. With another dry fit all the parts are a perfect fit. At this stage it is always a good idea to check the various dowels will locate through the various access holes. As can be seen in the following photo there are no issues. I really liked @Blue Ensign idea of adding a stone floor effect to the stove area. After looking for some suitable image files I downloaded a couple of different patterns. Once I had resized the images they were printed out. Although I prefer the top pattern, as shown in the photo below, there is an embedded watermark which means I am unable to use that image. After carefully cutting the holes for the bitts and stove I did a trial fit of the pattern. Overall it does not look too bad. I will need make another floor tile pattern as the one shown below is a tad too small. I am also deciding weather to glue the floor tile pattern to a 0.8mm wooden base before adding it to the deck. I will also compare the floor tile pattern with a version printed on photographic paper. This will probably be a bit bright and shiny.

Agreed

Spent the day looking at the next few build stages to see if there are any potential things that may need a bit of work. With the various side patterns clamped in place I did a trial fit of all the upper deck beams. I was very pleased that, with the exception of deck beams 2, 3 and 7, all the remaining deck beams were a perfect fit. This can be seen in the two photo below, as indicated by the yellow arrows. As can be seen in the next photo I am also checking the fit of the sail room side patterns with the beams in place. No problems were detected. There were no issue fitting deck beams 2, 3 and 7 when the side patterns were not fitted. The problem was solved when I lightly sanding the laser char from the side pattern deck beam slots using a narrow gauge 400-grit sanding stick. As can be seen in the next photo (yellow arrow) I am not totally happy with how the forward deck pattern is sitting. This is due to the addition of adding the two side cabin patterns. A little bit of fine adjustment will be required when these parts are installed to get patterns to sit flush. I decided to paint the frames of the deck gratings black. After taping the central grating areas I applied a coat of wipe on varnish (WOP). Once that had fully dried I applied two coats of matt black paint. I am very pleased with the end result and they look very good. They are test fitted in the next two photos. You will also note I have started to clean the laser char from the top of the deck beams and bitts. The mid section deck pattern, which sits right behind deck beam 11, is a very good fit. The following photo shows the lower deck with some of the deck beams and deck items dry fitted. Even at this very early stage the Harpy is certainly an impressive looking model and I think it will look even better once the outer decorative patterns have been painted. I am thinking of using a light grey, AK11817 RLM65 rather than a flat red colour. Next I looked at test fitting the sail room outer patterns. As can be seen in the next two photos there is a bit of work required to get a nice neat finish, as they are not flush fitting. After a little bit of sanding to remove the excess tab material the sail room patterns were a much better fit, as can be seen in the next photo.

Today was a day looking after one our young grandkids so my time in the shipyard was very limited to about 20 minutes. That said that was enough time to do a few tasks. I started by pre-fairing the four bow planking patterns to the laser etched guide lines and then they were slotted in to place, noting these parts were glued. Once that was done the two top bow planking patterns were glued in place. Moving swiftly on, after a quick dry fit check the following stern patterns were glued in place, in the following order a) 2 off stern frame patterns (inner) b) Bulkhead 17, after it the top edge had been beveled to the laser etched guide line. c) 2 off stern frame outer patterns, complete with the rear cabin assemblies. Once that was done the hull was turned upside down and diluted Titebond wood glue was brushed in all the deck and bulkhead joints. The hull will now be left overnight to allow plenty of time for the glue to fully cure. According to the plans the next task will be to add the various internal panels. I will have to put this on the back burner as I have to pick up my order of sander sealer on Monday from a local supplier, as I intend to paint these patterns before they are fitted. Also I plan to use same hinge and door handles which I have ordered from Syren (USA). The order has been shipped to the UK but I expect it will probably take a week or two before the parts get delivered. There are plenty of other jobs I can do in the meantime.

Today's task was to glue the two laser etched patterns to the forward and rear deck bases. This was a task that I took my time, with plenty of dry fitting of items that would be added later on in the build process. I started with the rear deck section. After checking the rear cabin pattern would locate in the slot I brushed plenty of plenty of wood glue on the base and I carefully aligned the laser etched deck pattern and used plenty of clamps. I also made sure once the deck pattern was in place that the rear cabin pattern would still locate in the slot. All was good, as can be seen in the photo below. Once the clue had cured the clamps were removed and the assembly was added to the hull framework. The deck is held in place with 4 locking keys, as indicated by the blue arrows in the following photo. I was very pleased that everything was a perfect fit and the locking keys were inserted without any issues. The rear panel was test fitted once again, and all looks good. Before adding the laser etched deck to the front deck base I wanted to make sure that the various key components would locate in their respective slots. This is shown in the next two photos. All looks good. It was now a case of brushing plenty of glue to the base and then clamping the laser etched deck in place. I used the sail room framework assembly to ensure the laser etched deck was correctly aligned. As the glue was curing I made a few more checks that the various deck items would locate fully in their respective slots. By taking my time with the aspect of the build I am very happy that the various deck items could be fitted without any issues. It was then a case of adding the forward deck assembly to the hull frame work. Once again the locking keys were inserted without any issues. The two cable house sides were also added to the hull frame and were locked in to place using a series of locking keys. The deck items and cabin patterns were test fitted (again). I have also checked the fitting of one of the deck beams and I was pleased that it was a perfect fit. So far so good and I think taking time to double check the fittings before gluing parts together has certainly paid dividends. There are a few more parts to add before diluted glue will be painted in to the various bulkhead and deck joints.

Your planking is very impressive. What sanding sealer are you planning to use?

It is now time to start the Harpy build in earnest. The first task was to remove the bulkheads from the MDF sheets. There are 17 bulkheads in total. There are laser engraved guide lines on bulkheads 1, 2 & 3 which enable these parts to have the initial pre fairing bevelling. I really like this design aspect. I used a combination of a Ginour rotary tool and sanding stick to bevel these bulkheads to the guide lines. Bulkheads 1 -16 were then inserted into their respective positions on the keel, ensuring they were all fully engaged. As per normal with the Vanguard Model builds no glue is used as this stage. The keel is very flimsy so thankfully this is soon corrected when the two keel doublers are added. To ensure these keel doublers are correctly aligned they are held in place using a series of locking keys. The basic hull frames is then strengthen further when the two longitudinal support parts were pushed into place. It was then time to check the installation of the two lower deck bases. No problems were encountered. There are locking keys to hold these deck bases in place, once fitted. However, before that can be done the laser engraved deck patterns need to be glued to the deck bases. When removing the removing the bulkheads I also removed all the other parts from the MDF sheets which were a) the various gun port jigs b) the sail room framework c) Two stern cabin frameworks. When test fitting the forward laser engraved deck pattern there seemed to be a slight alignment issue when using pins located in the eyebolt openings. When I positioned the laser engraved deck using the sail room frame, I was much happier with the overall alignment, but I may need to use a micro drill for some of the eyebolts. In the photo below the laser etched deck is only dry fitted as I was checking which rubber bands would be best to hold the deck in place while the glue cures. I also want to check the other items will fit in the various positions before I commit to gluing the parts in place. When looking at the laser engraved scuttles, I did consider copying Blue Ensign approach to plank the deck base and to add scuttle covers but after a little bit of thought I have decided to just use the laser engraved deck pattern as is. I will plan to follow Blue Ensign idea to fit a printed brick pattern for the stove base area as I think that it really enhances the build. I have also ordered some different hinges and handles from Syren which I will use for all the internal panel doors, as I really liked the ones Blue Ensign has fitted.

Another new dawn and another new Vanguard Model to build, namely the HMS Harpy. I have been looking forward to starting this build since receiving the kit last month but I decided it was better to complete my work on HM Armed Cutter Sherbourne build. I really like the look of the HMS Harpy and have been very impressed with the design work. I hope that my modelling skills will enable me to do justice to this kit, noting there is still many areas for me to work on to get better results. The shipyard has been cleaned, the tools are ready so it is now time for lights, camera and action. Building The Cradle As with many of the Vanguard Model kits there is an MDF build cradle to assemble. A clear perspex cradle is also provided to display the completed model. Using a sharp craft knife the tabs were cut free from the MDF sheet. I like to score to tabs top and bottom as I find this ensures the parts come out clean and minimal work is then required to remove any unwanted tab nubs with a quick rub using a sanding block. After a quick test fit of the component parts some Aliphatic Resin Wood Glue (Deluxe) was added to the locating slots and the cradle was assembled. Although not really necessary for the cradle, but is good practice, the excess wood glue was wiped clean. After a busy morning in the shipyard it is now time for a well earned cup of Yorkshire tea.